Dr Michael Lim, a senior consultant at the Paediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Division, National University Hospital, Singapore, speaks to Roshini Claire Anthony on the rare disease that is cystic fibrosis.

Susceptibility‐guided therapy is as effective as empiric modified bismuth quadruple therapy for the first-line treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection, with both yielding excellent eradication rates, as shown in a recent trial.

The risk factors and outcomes associated with an increased risk of permanent pacing include atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation, multivalve surgery and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III/IV, a recent study has found.

Mediterranean diet reduces pollution-related cardiovascular mortality

Jairia Dela Cruz

11 Feb 2019

Eating foods rich in antioxidant compounds, such as the Mediterranean diet, helps protect against the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality associated with long-term exposure to air pollution, according to data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study.

“Attenuation of the CVD mortality risk associated with air pollution exposure by dietary patterns, as observed here, is therefore consistent with past evidence of oxidative stress as underlying mechanism for air pollution-induced health effects and suggests that a healthful dietary pattern enriched in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds could interact with mechanisms underlying air pollution-induced health effects,” they added.

Of note, following a Mediterranean-style diet modified the observed associations, such that individuals with higher alternative Mediterranean Diet Index scores were at lower risk of both PM2.5/NO2-related CVD and IHD mortality (p<0.01 for interaction).

When specific components of the diet were examined, higher consumption levels of vegetables conferred protective benefits for PM2.5-CVD, PM2.5-IHD, NO2-CVD and NO2-IHD deaths; whole grains for PM2.5-CVD and PM2.5-IHD death; and fruits for NO2-CVD death.

“These results add to a growing body of literature suggesting [that] dietary patterns may help reduce CV events due to air pollution exposure, potentially through augmenting antioxidants and reducing oxidative stress,” the investigators said.

More than 4.2 million people die from air pollution-related diseases every year, which by any measure is an immense global public health burden. According to the World Health Organization, exposure to ambient air pollution is the fifth leading mortality risk factor in the world. [https://www.who.int/newsroom/detail/02-05-2018-9-out-of-10-people-worldwide-breathe-polluted-air-but-morecountries-are-taking-action]

“Thus, in concert with air quality standards and emission control policies to protect … against the most harmful effects of air pollution, individual-level prevention strategies and population-wide policy efforts to promote healthier diets, aimed at countering the oxidative stress induced by air pollution exposure, may provide complementary approaches,” the investigators said.

Dr Michael Lim, a senior consultant at the Paediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Division, National University Hospital, Singapore, speaks to Roshini Claire Anthony on the rare disease that is cystic fibrosis.

Susceptibility‐guided therapy is as effective as empiric modified bismuth quadruple therapy for the first-line treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection, with both yielding excellent eradication rates, as shown in a recent trial.

The risk factors and outcomes associated with an increased risk of permanent pacing include atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation, multivalve surgery and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III/IV, a recent study has found.